The thing that has killed more of human kind then any other is religion through crusades, hat crimes wars and terrorists (taliban, KKK, al qaeda and numerous others). Instead of focusing so much on restricting/banning video games let us try and scrutinize the way in which religion has deformed from its original purpouse (which was a good set of morals)

Dont Restrict games, restrict the Holy Book (im only using his/her logic for this as I believe in Free speech and transmission, but im setting a completely valid example)

You logic is flawed. Those things where done because of greed and hate by people hiding behind religion. Even if there was no religions, people would still kill because of hate and greed. Hitler was an atheist and an anti-religious bigot and it didn't stop him from starting wars and killing millions.

And while I'm not a fan of Grand Theft Auto and have no desire to defend it, anyone who committed crimes this month would most likely have done so even if the game never existed.

People are responsible for their actions. But we all know, unfortunately, violent media influences the feeble-minded (aka a huge percentage of people) and can spur them (not entirely cause them) to do unwanted actions.

So in order to protect ourselves(the more intelligent beings), we need to make sure the feeble-minded do not get pushed too far by this type of media (games, movies, etc).

Just ignore them. It will be some 50+ year old bloke who thinks gaming is for children and therefore cannot be compared or held in the same regard as other forms of entertainment. Once everyone over the age of 50 dies or has no influence on society anymore, (so in the next 15 years or so) that's when gaming will be accepted amongst everyone as a viable form of entertainment.

are you that really ignorant? its one thing to hear,read,and see something but in a game your actually making it happen and i really hate when people say guns dont kill people...they were MADE to kill people and just a few months ago there was a story bout a kid that shot his grandmother right after play gta...im pretty sure it was the game that made him think it was alright

@kalebninja And who pulled the trigger? The gun or the human behind the gun?

You do realise the gun is an inanimate object just like a knife, club or any weapon you can think of?

How old was this influential kid? Below 18 years of age I guess who shouldn't be playing GTA in the first place? I bet the kid would have done the same thing if he was reading a violent comic book rather than a 18 rated videogame.

Videogames are just the scapegoat for the last 2-3 decades like books, movies and comics were before that.

It's just society placing blame on an easy target because of it's incompetence and failure to adapt to change.

"It's just society placing blame on an easy target because of it's incompetence and failure to adapt to change."

Not only is society unable to adapt to change, but, it is unable to take responsibility for anything. Parents are upset that their children watch too much TV. Play too many games. Watch too many violent movies... Guess what!? They are YOUR children, attempt to parent once in awhile and maybe you won't be so upset!

Drop em' off and daycare, plop them in front of the TV, buy them whatever game stops them from crying... then, without acknowledging ANY of their own actions which were all done in the interest of convenience - it is always someone else's fault.

I quit my job and started my own company to spend more time with my son and raise him properly. I play GTAV. He knows he can't play the Xbox. Hell, he doesn't even watch TV for more than an hour a week.

Me: "Ummm, well, officer, I had played GTA V the other night - so, I'm not really sure what you were expecting here. I mean, at least I was on the right side of the road! I wasn't even tossing grenades out the window or anything... it's not like there are any active bounties at the moment. I didn't even consider stealing your car!"

Officer: "Those damn games. Thanks for your honesty, it's clearly not YOUR fault that you were speeding. I'll be sending your ticket directly to the Rockstar"

Millions of people play GTA, you don't see millions of crimes taking place. We are shown violence through all forms of media everyday. Removing GTA will not fix the problem, parents need to take responsibility for their negligence.

Funny story: When I was in the 5th grade, my school had set up a mock presidential election... Long story short Gore won by about or even more than 73% of the school votes and thats from, I remember it being in the high 90 percentile of students/children(including myself), Bush and the other guys' percentage was made up from the votes from the teachers and a few students(stragglers) as well...

The harsh reality of it is that it probably prevented crime in mid September rather than increased it. I don't want to stereotype people but judging by some of the delinquents queuing up at midnight launch id say the daily mail are talking out of their @rses.